Does the cheapest quote offer the best value for your school trip? Not always.
Many schools now require you to get several quotes for your trip before it gets signed off. But it can be difficult to work out which one’s really giving your group the best value for money (spoiler alert – it may not be the cheapest one).
It’s tricky to work out which quote represents the best value. That's because although you may have asked all the school trip companies to quote you on the same essential trip, they’ll all include slightly different things in their quote.
And even if they’ve included exactly the same things, there'll be other elements you need to consider (like the level of protection, support and customer service they’re offering you).
Pro tip: When it comes to comparing quotes, make sure you're comparing like for like.
The quote itself
What have they actually included?
- How many meals does each quote include?
- Have they included the cost of activities?
- Have they included transfers to and from the UK airport if you’re flying?
- Is comprehensive medical and travel insurance included?
Be wary of operators offering very cheap deals - they may be offering a very basic package. This could mean you either get stung with significant additional costs after you’ve booked or you could be stuck with a tour that doesn’t live up to your expectations.
Look carefully at what is and isn’t included.
One quote may appear cheaper, but if you need to pay extra for anything like meals or activities that have been left out, the costs could soon add up.
If you’ve received a quote from us, we hope you’ll agree it’s super clear on what’s included.
We’ll let you know what accommodation we’ve based the quote on, what activities we’ve included (and the costs of anything else you might like to do).
What extra costs will you need to factor in?
- Activities not included in the quote
- Meals not included in the board basis
- Possibly a coach to take your group to the airport
- Is there a possibility they’ll impose any surcharges?
The last thing you want to have to do is go back to parents and ask for more money once they’ve signed their children up to the trip.
Check whether your tour operator will charge any surcharges. Some do in the case of significant exchange rate fluctuations (as just one example).
The last thing you want is to have to go back to parents to ask for more money, so you need to know whether this is a possibility or not. If you’re not sure, then it’s definitely a question worth asking.
We take care to mention on the quote anything else that could affect the price.
For example, if you’re travelling via the Eurotunnel, there are ‘Super Peak’ dates for which there is a supplement to pay. As far as possible, we’ll let you know how much this is likely to be and what dates are affected so you can try to avoid it.
And most hotels charge a single supplement, so keep that in mind if staff want their rooms.
You’ll notice there’s a ‘valid until’ date on our quotes. We don’t add this to try and hassle you into booking - it’s just letting you know that we can only guarantee the quoted price until that date.
After that, suppliers might (and often do) increase their prices, so we want to make sure you don’t miss out on the best price.
The only exception to this is when your quote includes flights with a low-cost airline.
If you’ve dealt with these airlines for your own personal holidays or previous trips, then you’ll know their prices are subject to change at any time. Like you, we have no control over the price of these until we actually book the flights.
Having said that, if this affects you we’ll make it super clear on your quote and we’ll advise you to build in a bit of a contingency to the price you quote to students to make sure you’re covered.
And if the price of the flights doesn’t rise (fingers crossed), the extra budget can be used towards an extra exciting activity or a nice treat for the group.
The service
What support will they provide you with?
- Are they providing a rep?
- Will you have 24-hour support throughout the trip?
- How much can they help you with trip admin?
- Can they arrange an inspection visit for you?
Are they offering any added value?
- Are they school travel experts?
- Can they help you design an itinerary that makes the best use of your time and meets your learning objectives?
- How much can they reduce your workload when it comes to organising your trip?
As well as the physical inclusions, it’s worth considering the value and quality of the service offered.
There may be other perks such as inspection visits, help with trip admin or 24-hour support that one company offers and the other doesn’t.
Although this may not directly affect the cost of this particular tour, these could save money and stress in the long run (so it’s definitely worth keeping in mind).
For example, if you’re comparing a quote from a school tour operator and a group tour operator, one thing to take into consideration is the fact that the specialist school tour operator will have the experience to advise you as a school group with specific requirements and learning objectives.
The school tour operator will also better understand the pressures on you as a teacher, having worked closely with many teachers in the past, and so they may be better placed to support you throughout the process.
Peace of mind
Will you be fully protected if you book with them?
- Are they members of ABTA?
- Are they members of ABTOT?
- Are their flight tours ATOL-protected?
- Are they members of the School Travel Forum?
- Do they hold a Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge?
And if you are comparing two school tour operators, make sure you check that both are fully accredited.
Important accreditations to look for are ABTA and ATOL bonds, as well as membership of the School Travel Forum and the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge .
Just in case you were wondering, we do have all of these accreditations.